etter cognitive

etter cognitive development, more physical growth, less diarrhea, and higher immunization rates. 29 Center-based care can promote foundational skills. In countries from Ethiopia to the United States, high-quality, center-based programs have shown substantial benefits in developing children’s language, cognitive, motor, and socioemotional skills. 30 By contrast, attending a low-quality, center-based program can be worse than attending none at all. 31 The quality of child-caregiver interactions is a key determinant of such programs’ impacts, as Indonesia and Mozambique demonstrated with effective center-based preschool programs for children ages 3 to 6. These programs included minimal infrastructure investments but improved children’s cognitive abilities thanks to their interactions with well-trained caregivers (box 5.1). 32 Delivering quality, center-based interventions for children under 3 is harder because they require costlier structural investments (such as lower child-to-staff ratios). Consequently, programs to build parenting capacity might be most cost-effective for children under 3 in resource-constrained environments or to reach marginalized populations. 33 Bringing it all together Integrating programs can lead to better development outcomes. Poor children are exposed to multiple risk factors that cannot be adequately addressed by any single intervention. Multifactor programs capture the complex, complementary nature of early childhood development and exploit complementarities (figure 5.3). 34 To be effective, interventions must be delivered during specific stages of development. 35 Packaging interventions to address sequential or related developmental goals can increase effectiveness, especially if intervention packages incorporate benefits for caregivers as well. Integrated intervention packages can build on existing platforms such as communitybased strategies or social safety nets, though the effectiveness of any specific strategy will depend on contextual factors. 36 Quality should not be diluted in the effort to increase investments in the early years— say, by relying on volunteers or unqualified workers to deliver services, which is common. 37 Providing demand-side support can get kids to school, but not necessarily to learn School is a key input to at-scale learning. Despite major gains in access, many children still don’t attend school. Even though school is not the only place that Box 5.1 Early childhood education prepares young children for school Preschool programs targeting children ages 3–6 can foster foundational skills and boost children’s ability to learn. Children who attend preschool have higher attendance and better achievement in primary school. Moreover, they are less likely to repeat, drop out, or need remedial or special education, all of which benefit not only students but also education systems because efficiency is increased. a Across countries at all income levels, the most disadvantaged children benefit most from quality early child education programs. b But early child education programs are not all equally effective; overly academic and structured programs for children under 5 may undermine their cognitive and socioemotional skills, as well as their motivation to learn, because young children learn best through exploration, play, and interaction with others. c Key elements of programs that have led to strong preschool outcomes include curriculums that foster crucial pre-academic abilities (emotional security, curiosity, language, self-regulation) through play; professional development plus coaching that enable teachers to effectively implement relevant curriculums; and positive, engaging classrooms that promote children’s innate drive to learn. d For early child education gains to be sustained, the content, budget, and capacity of providers of preschool programs should be integrated into formal education systems. In addition, the quality of subsequent learning environments in primary school is an important determinant of the long-term effects of preschool programs. e Source: WDR 2018 team. a. Klees (2017). b. Britto and others (2016). c. Whitebread, Kuvalja, and O’Connor (2015). d. Phillips and others (2017). e. Johnson and Jackson (2017). 116 | World Development Report 2018

Figure 5.3 Integrated programs through the early years are necessary for proper child development Key interventions for young children and their families Pregnancy Birth 1 year 2 years 3 years 4 years 5 years 6 years 1 Family support package Parental support for vulnerable families: planning for family size and spacing; maternal education; education about early stimulation, growth, and development; parental leave and adequate child care; prevention and treatment of parental depression; social assistance transfer programs; child protection regulatory frameworks Health, nutrition, and sanitation for families: access to health care; access to safe water; adequate sanitation; hygiene/handwashing; micronutrient supplementation and fortification 2 Pregnancy package Antenatal care; iron and folic acid; counseling on adequate diets 3 Birth package Attended delivery; exclusive breastfeeding; birth registration 4 Child health and development package Immunizations; deworming; prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition; complementary feeding and adequate, nutritious, and safe diet; therapeutic zinc supplementation for diarrhea AB C 5 Preschool package Preschool education programs (early childhood and preprimary); continuity to quality primary schools Source: Denboba and others (2014). children learn (box 5.2), most parents want their children to go to school. Moreover, most children want to go. In a survey of Indian mothers with an average of less than three years of education, 94 percent hoped their children would complete at least grade 10. 38 In Kenya, among parents with no education at all, more than half wanted a university education for their children. 39 Significant costs—both formal fees and a wide array of other expenses—prevent children, especially the most vulnerable, from learning. Nearly 90 percent of the world’s low-income countries proclaim free primary education. But for lower secondary education, more than 40 percent of the countries charge fees, along with 10 percent of middle-income countries. 40 In Africa, almost half the expenditures that households incur to send their children to school—for school supplies, learning materials, transportation— are in addition to formal fees. 41 These costs of schooling widen the gaps in school participation separating poorer children from their wealthier peers. High aspirations for schooling among children and their parents explain why initiatives that ease constraints to schooling for households—so-called demand-side interventions—have been so effective at getting children to school. In many countries, the elimination of school fees has raised enrollments, suggesting that parents simply did not have the resources to pay the fees (figure 5.4). 42 The interventions, which have sought to reduce other costs associated with school, have consistently improved access in the form of enrollment as well as attendance. 43 Nonmerit scholarships—which reduce fees on a smaller scale—have increased enrollment at the There is no learning without prepared, motivated learners | 117